BOISE – Allan Ebel, 63, of Boise, Idaho was sentenced today in United States District Court to 48 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release, and a $5,000 fine, for possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Ebel pleaded guilty on August 10, 2016.
According to the plea agreement, an electronic device at Ebel’s residence downloaded images of child pornography from a website based in Switzerland on at least six occasions in August of 2014. In July of 2015, agents with the Department of Homeland Security, with assistance from the Boise Police Department and the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, executed a search warrant at Ebel’s residence in Boise, Idaho, seizing numerous computers and electronic storage devices. Agents with the Department of Homeland Security conducted a forensic examination of the devices, and discovered images of child pornography saved in folders on a desktop computer and an external hard drive, and evidence that the devices were owned and used by Ebel. In the plea agreement, Ebel admitted possessing 4,688 images and 31 videos containing child pornography on the desktop computer and external hard drive.
Senior U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge also ordered Ebel to forfeit a computer and an external hard drive used in the commission of the charged offenses. As a result of his conviction, Ebel will be required to register as a sex offender.
The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Boise Police Department and the Ada County Sheriff's Office, and was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”